Consumers should decide service charge, not hotels: Paswan

Days after the government issued to remove the service charge levied by hotels, Food and Consumer Affairs Minister Ram Vilas Paswan on Friday said the service charge should be decided by the consumers.

Food and Consumer Affairs Minister Ram Vilas Paswan

Paswan said the government has approved guidelines on service charge and the same are being sent to the state governments to take necessary actions.

"Hotels or restaurants should not decide how much service charge is to be paid by customer. It should be left to discretion of customer," he said at a press briefing in the national capital.

The government had last week asked to remove the service charge voluntary component levied by hotels.

In January, the government had asked all the restaurants and hotels to put up notices stating 'service charge is voluntary'.

The government had said that consumers can refuse to pay service charge if they weren't satisfied with the experience.

As per provisions under the Consumer Protection Act, 1986, consumer can make a complaint to the appropriate consumer forum if service charge is levied.